MK3 GTi 16v Gear Selection Problems

[Pete Taylor]

Basically my gearbox works fine, no problems whilst in any gears but the gear selection from the shifter is pretty stuttery, slack and annoying. It will always make a clunk selecting reverse. 1st gear is a b!tch to get, it's dead annoying because it gets 2/3rds of the way there then stops, I have to pop it into 2nd quickly then back into first for it to engage the gear correctly. Makes me look a right retard if I have to stop and go quickly at a roundabout or junction. 2nd sometimes feels a bit awkward to get into but goes in. 3rd very occasionally grinds ever so slightly when selected although the selection is easy, as is 4th and 5th.

A grease monkey mentioned the cables might need adjusting? I've seen people mention problems with broken bushes and some ball thing. Is this most likely to be the problem? Basically I need to know which bits break and where to find them because i'm mechanically retarded with regards to engines and gearboxes.

Apparently there is some sort of repair kit you can get but not from GSF as they said the selector repair kit doesnt work for the cable change box.
Any help would be muchos apprecieted because this is really starting to cheese me off because no-one seems to know. If I ask the guy at the garage who regularly does my work now i daresay he'll end up taking the whole box out and refurbing it even if it doesn't need it!

[jezza16v]

Do you find it works fine from cold for the first few miles and gets worse when warmed up? Or is it a problem all the time?

[Pete Taylor]

Now that you mention it, everything seems fine from cold, first thing in the morning selecting reverse to get off the drive it doesn't even clunk

[Overseer]

you're not alone.. mine does the first gear thing.. moreso when warm.. and i picked the "2nd first" tip up off the net somewhere... i'm finding 5th a hassle lately actually.. and end up in 3rd a lot... but no problems with 3rd itself.

oh and reverse doesnt clunk all the time. but it does sometimes maybe also when warm actually..

if i remember i'll give my local specialist a shout and see what he says
 
what mileage is your car up to? mines just hit 98k.. 

[garfayliu]

I thought changing the gearbox oil would help with my 1st gear selection problems. Worked well for the first few days, gear change was real light, but now it's still sometimes difficult to engage first.
Like Pete said, going into 2nd makes it easier, or sometimes double de-clutching helps.

Don't think there is a linkage kit for the cable change box unfortunatley.

[jezza16v]

Hmm, mine is the same on 143k with 1st & 3rd. I've had the linkage sorted which took the 'slop' out of the shift and had the box oil topped up but it made no difference. I guess the syncro and selectors are getting worn beyond tolerance. It might be worth trying Redline MTL oil in the box, but last time I tried this in a mk2 it made little difference and set the drive shaft seals leaking. I think I'll just live with it as its not crunching at all yet. I find that if I give mine a long run and get it well heat soaked the problem seems to go, its just when its at that 'in-between' temperature which it gets to after about 7-10 miles, sods law that's how far I have to drive to work  

[garfayliu]

I forgot to say in my post above my mk3 has only done 54400 miles, original gearbox, new gearbox oil at 53000 miles. But the problem of difficult 1st/reverse gear selection has occured since I got it at 33000 miles. So I'm unsure how much mileage affects it and whether it's worn bushes?

Can anyone confirm if there is any adjustment for the 02A cable change gear box fitted to the mk3 2.0L 16v?

[Overseer]

^ theres another post in this section that says there is some kind of adjusment poss

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=58228.0

[garfayliu]

i've been keeping an eye on that too, but I think the guy who has done the adjustment was on a mk2 something, and not on a mk3 16v with cable change box, so still unsure?! 

[systemseiko]

Correct me if i'm wrong but the Mk 2 & Mk3 8V Gti's both use the same gear linakge bushings,  these are easily replaced and ther is a sticky on it in the Mk2 forum,  i don't have much knowledge of the Mk3's 16V GTI's but i think these are cable and same as the Mk3 TDI's/ VR6's

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=51321.0